Apparatus for electric branding



(No Model.)

W. CANNELL. APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC BRANDING.

No. 445,648. Patented Feb. 3, 1891.

w illlllllllmuimam:mi:lmmllllllllllllllllflIIIIII i UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

'ILLIAM CANNELL, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC BRANDlNG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No 445,648, dated February3, 1891.

Application filed April 8, 1890,

To aZZ whom z't may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM GANNELL, of the city and county of Hartford,Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inApparatus for Electric Brandin g, which improvements are described inthe following specification and are illustrated by the accompanyingdrawings.

The invention, relating in general to the art of branding and involvingthe use of a hot brand, consists, particularly, in the method andmechanism whereby the brand is heated electrically.

The best manner in which I have contemplated applying the principle ofmy invention is illustrated by said drawings, in which- Figure 1represents apparatus for electric branding including a portable electricbrander constructed in accordance with my invention and shown in sideelevation, with parts in section, and also an electric generator, arheostat, and a switch with connections. Fig. 2 is an end View of saidbrander. Fig. 3 is a face or bottom View of the same. Fig. 4 is acentral vertical cross-section of a part of the brander.

The brander which is depicted in these views comprises a peculiarlyconstructed electrical transformer and a branding plate or brand whichconstitutes a portion of the secondary circuit of such transformer. Thecore 1 of the transformer being of laminated structure and cylindricalform consists of numerous annular plates of sheet-iron placed side byside and insulated from each other. The wire coils 2 of the primarycircuit are wound. lengthwise of the core in and out, as shown, and arepreferably connected in series with each other and with the generator,rhcostat, and switch, which are hereinafter described. The secondarycircuit of the transformer consists of tube 3, side clamps 5, andbranding-plate 7. Tube 3, being concentric with core 1 and supportingthe same, is made of copper or other highly-conductive material, and isseparated from coils 2 by the insulating-cover 4;. This arrangement isplainly seen in Fig. 4, which is a cr0ss-section of core 1, coils 2,tube 3, and the insulating-cover 4. The opposite end portions of tube 3being uninsulated enter holes which are made therefor in the two sidepieces respectively.

Serial No. 347,085, (No model.)

These side pieces, being of like dimensions and made of copper or otherhighly-conductive material, are set in parallel positions on tube 3 andare brought into ample contact therewith by means of clamping-screws 6.

The brandingplate or brand 7 is preferably made of iron, nickel, orother metal of high resistance and is fastened upon side pieces 5 inelectrical contact therewith by screws 8. The cross-sectional area ofplate 7 is small, and its electrical resistance relative to that of tube3 and side pieces 5 is great. It is immaterial, however, whether theincreased resistance of plate 7 is secured by its diminished sizerelative to the rest of the secondary circuit or by the high resistanceof the material of which that plate is formed, or by both meanstogether. Raised letters or any other desired characters in relief areformed upon the face of plate 7, as seen in Fig.

For the purpose of regulating the distribution of heat in plate 7 and ofimparting a uniform temperature to such letters or other characters inrelief thereon that plate is made thickest in the middle, as seen inFig. 1, and its cross-sectional area is made to diminish gradually fromthe middle to the ends of the plate. \Vithout this precaution the middlepart of the plate would be heated most and soonest and the letters wouldbe unequally burned into the branded surface.

The described brander is provided. with a handle 9, rigidly attached bymeans of two wooden or other insulating side pieces 10, which arefastened to side clamps 5 by screws 1]..

The numeral 1.:2 denotes an electric generator of the alternating typeprovided with a switch 13 and a choking coil or rheostat 14, which areconnected with coils 2, in the described manner, through cable 15. Allother particulars or construct-ion of this brander will sufficientlyappear from the drawings and from the process of electric branding,which remains to be described.

In electric branding by the use of the described apparatus, the durationand the strength of the current, which is admitted from generator 12 toprimary coils 2, are regu lated by manipulating switch 13 and rheostatlet. The induced current in the secondhandle 9 the brand while so heatedis applied in the ordinary manner to any desired brandable article untilthe desired charring or branding eifect is produced.

Such being the nature. of my. invention, I claim 1. In an electricbrander, ahigh-resistance branding-plate or brand, being largest in themiddle and of gradually-diminishing crosssection toward the oppositeends thereof and having raised letters or other characters in reliefthereon, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In an electric brander, an electric transformer having as a portionof its secondary circuit a branding-plate whose cross-section, beinggreatest at the middle of the plate, diminishes gradually toward theopposite ends of the plate, substan ially as and for the purposespecified.

3'.-A magnetic core anda high-resistance primarycoil thereon, incombination with a 30 secondary circuit having a general low resistanceand including abranding-plate or brand which has a predeterminedvariable crosssectional area, and is provided with raised letters orother characters in relief, substan- 3 5 tially as and for the purposespecified.

4. Apparatus for electric branding employing electric current as theheating agent, andconsisting of an alternator supplying current of highelectro-motive force, in combination 40 with a switch and rhcostat and atransformer whose secondary circuit carrying a large VOlume of electriccurrent includes a brandingplate or brand which has a variablecrosssectional area, and is adapted to be heated 45 uniformly andsimultaneously from end to end by that volume of current, substantiallyas and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my name in the presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM OANNELL.

Witnesses:

WILLARD EDDY, RICHARD H. MATHER.

